Living Away Until Called Back
by 101dragon
Summary: After Ichigo lost his powers, no one seemed to care about him anymore. So as soon as he became an adult, he left. Three years later, he is living as a single parent to his adoptive children, as happy as one can be. That is until a hoard of hollows attacked and he ran into another soul reaper. With that single moment, his life became a lot more complicated.


**Author's note**

 **I do not own Bleach.**

Chapter 1

Ichigo Kurosaki sighed as he held his adopted sons, Jaryū and Ōkami, close to him while they slept. His two little boys were tuckered out after their day at school so he was letting them take a nap.

The reason he had sighed though was because it was that day, the anniversary of the day that he left home, the day that he had cut off all contact with his previous friends and family.

Even though they deserved it for basically ignoring him in favor of hanging out with the soul reapers and taking out hollows after he had lost his powers at the end of the war. When he had turned eighteen, he had left home because he was tired of it and moved across the country. Two years later, he had adopted two four year olds that he had found in an alleyway.

Now at twenty-one years old, Ichigo enjoyed his life as a single parent. Ōkami was the sweetest little boy ever, never fighting with other kids, always drawing pictures showing the happiness in his life. Jaryū on the other hand was very protective over his brother and made sure that no one messed with him while still playing sports and games.

When his little boys were at school, Ichigo worked as a store clerk and at night when his kids went to sleep, he worked on his novels. He had become a very good writer and his books were read all over the world. His store clerk job was just to keep up a semblance of normalcy in his life.

Because of his jobs, Jaryū, Ōkami, and himself had everything they needed and more. He didn't get them everything they wanted but they still had a lot of toys and books. He had things to keep him entertained when his boys weren't.

Not that they could distract him from what the date was. It was officially three years since he had left. And four years since he had gotten his powers back. Yeah, it was funny really, a year after he had lost his powers, he had gotten them back suddenly. He hadn't told anyone because he really wasn't interested in being a soul reaper anymore since his friends and family had ignored him just because he hadn't been one.

Now when hollows showed up around his home, he just hid his spiritual power and eventually a soul reaper would show up to take them out. Ōkami and Jaryū surprisingly had some spiritual power as well but Ichigo was always sure to hide theirs as well when hollows showed up.

"Daddy?" Ichigo was startled out of his thoughts and he looked down at his sons. Ōkami was looking up at him with wide eyes while Jaryū was looking at his brother impatiently.

"What is it, my little wolf?" Ichigo asked him softly.

"Can you take us to the park?" Ōkami asked with his wide doe eyes.

Ichigo chuckled before he told his boys. "Get your shoes and your jackets and I'll take you scamps."

Jaryū and Ōkami jumped up excitedly and gave him a hug before running off to get their jackets and shoes. Ichigo chuckled again before getting up to get ready himself. He grabbed his wallet and the backpack he always had packed for the park before putting on his own shoes. By the time he got down to the front door, his boys were already waiting their impatiently.

"My my, aren't we impatient today." Ichigo said smirking as he leaned down to tie Ōkami's shoes. Ōkami tugged his hand as soon as he finished, saying. "Come on, Daddy, let's go!"

"Slow down, squirts, the park isn't going anywhere." Ichigo laughed before he took one of their little hands each in his big ones and walked out of their house.

The park was only just down the street from them so they didn't have to walk very far. Once they had reached the playground, Ichigo had let the kids loose before sitting down on a bench nearby to watch them. There were other kids on the playground and other parents.

The young adult was just about to pull out a book to read when he sense something that made his blood run cold. There were hollows coming towards the park and not just one or two, there were at least ten hollows converging on the playground.

Ichigo couldn't do what he normally did. Even if he hid their spiritual pressures from the hollows, the hollows would still probably kill him and his boys. The thought of a hollow even touching his boys made his blood boil. He knew what he had to do.

Ichigo went over to where the boys were playing and crouched down next to them.

"Boys, I need you to do something for me." He began and when they looked at him curiously, he continued. "Remember when I told you about hollows and soul reapers? Well there are a lot of hollows coming towards the playground and I'm going to have to go into my other form for a bit. What I need you two to do is to watch my body and get to somewhere where you'll be out of danger? Can you do that?"

When his little boys just stood there, shuffling a bit, Ichigo looked them straight in the eye and asked again.

"Can you do that, Ōkami, Jaryū?"

The two five year olds didn't respond for a moment before they both nodded. Ichigo smiled at them before he led them over to the bench where he had been sitting before and sat down. He then took out the soul candy that would expel his soul from his body. Taking another look at his boys, he swallowed the pill and stepped out of his body even as the first of the hollows appeared.

Gripping Zangetsu by the hilt, he leapt at the hollow and defeated it with two strikes. Those two strikes, however, left enough time for more hollows to show up and soon he was fighting them off from every direction as they kept coming. There were far more than ten hollows, the only question was why? Why were there so many hollows converging on the park now? Ichigo didn't get it.

He was just about to kill another hollow when he sensed one getting far too close to his boys for comfort. Turning to kill it before it could harm a hair on his boys' heads, he saw another soul reaper take it out quickly before moving on to the rest of the hollows. Nodding at the stranger, Ichigo went back to killing the hollows.

After the stranger joined the fray, it didn't take long before all the hollows were defeated. Once finished, Ichigo got back into his body and hugged his boys before turning to the other soul reaper.

"Thanks for your help, I don't think I could have destroyed all those hollows by myself. Plus you protected my kids so I owe you one." He thanked the soul reaper. Then he realized something as he looked the soul reaper in the eye. His eyes widened as he said in shock. "No way. Is that you, Renji?"

The other soul reaper's eyes widened as he asked.

"Ichigo Kurosaki?"

Ichigo's look of shock turned into one of happiness. One that he would have never shown before his kids came into the picture.

"It is you, Renji! Man, it's been a long time." Ichigo said excitedly before Ōkami pulled on his pants leg and asked. "You know him, Daddy?"

That cause the tattooed soul reaper to gasp even as Ichigo told Ōkami and Jaryū.

"Yes, this is one of my old soul reaper friends, Renji Abarai."

The single parent then turned to Renji and introduced his kids.

"Renji, these are my sons, Ōkami and Jaryū; say hi, boys."

"Hi!" Ōkami said brightly before Jaryū politely said. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Abarai."

"Jaryū, I told you not to layer on the charm unless the person is very important or it's a dog." Ichigo admonished lightly even as Renji looked at the five year old in surprise.

"Ok, Daddy." Jaryū said with a smirk before his stomach growled and he asked. "Daddy, when's dinner?"

Ichigo's eyes widened before he said.

"I forgot that it was almost your dinner time!" He turned to Renji and asked. "Would you mind asking your questions later? I have to go get dinner started and feed these two."

"If he wants to ask you questions, can't you invite him to dinner and let him ask them after the dinner?" Ōkami asked innocently.

Ichigo blinked before he said.

"Ōkami, you are absolutely right, plus it won't allow him to report this right away."

The young adult then turned to Renji and asked.

"Well? You want to come over and interrogate me after the meal or what?"

Renji thought of it for a moment before he nodded, gaining a smile out of Ichigo and his sons. This surprised Renji a bit. Ichigo seemed a lot more happy than he had been back when he had first met him.

The four of them left the park and headed down to the house. Once inside, Ichigo took off his shoes before going to fix dinner while Renji, Ōkami and Jaryū went into the living room and sat down.

After a few minutes of silence, Renji decided to talk to the five year old boys.

"So how old are you two?"

"Ōkami and I are five!" Jaryū replied before adding. "Daddy adopted us last year."

"He did?" Renji asked in surprise.

"Yeah, Daddy found us and adopted us straight away." Ōkami said cheerfully before he added. "I think he was lonely but that's ok because now he has us!"

There was silence for a moment before Jaryū asked.

"So you know our Daddy from the war? Daddy never mentions other soul reapers unless it's from the war because after the war, he didn't have any contact from the soul society."

"He didn't? But I told his friends to send on messages from us since he couldn't see us before?" Renji asked curiously.

"Daddy said that his other so-called friends flat out refused to talk about anything to do with soul reapers after he temporarily lost his powers; that they hardly hung out with him after as if he wasn't their friend at all." Jaryū explained before Ōkami added. "That's why Daddy left; even Grandpa and our Aunties preferred to talk to soul reapers so he didn't bother even when he got his powers back."

Renji opened his mouth to ask them more when Ichigo called out. "Dinner's ready; Ōkami, Jaryū, make sure you wash your hands!"

"Yes, Daddy." The two children chorused before they ran into the kitchen. Renji followed them at a slower place and sat down at the table without washing his hands.

Ichigo was quick to fix that.

"Uh uh, you go wash your hands too; no one in this house handles food without washing their hands first." The single parent told him with a glare before he hissed. "I do not need my boys thinking they can get away with not washing their hands just because of a guest, so go wash your hands this instant."

Renji was surprised by the order but didn't haste in obeying it. Ichigo could be downright scary and it seems that being a parent had only made him scarier. After he had washed his hands and had sat back down at the table with Ōkami, Jaryū, and Ichigo, they started eating.

Dinner was a quiet affair, the only sound being that of people eating. Once Ōkami and Jaryū were done eating, they immediately excused themselves before running off to play. A few minutes later, when Ichigo and Renji had both finished, Ichigo sat forward in his seat and said.

"I know you probably have a lot of questions for me so ask away. I have nothing to hide."

 **Author's note**

 **And cut! I love cliff-hangers! I hope that all of you enjoyed this chapter and please don't hesitate to review and make your pleasures (or displeasures) known. See you next time!**


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